Alex shook the man’s hand again. It was soft, like a baby’s. There was something curiously childlike about the man. He had that soft round cheekiness, without the angularity which normally intrudes during adolescence. There was no trace of a beard, and the black hair was undisciplined. The eyes didn’t fit in that face. Dark and deep-set, they were fiercely intelligent. “What can I do for you?”
“I don’t feel comfortable in a room with so many scans hooked up to it. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
Izumi thought for a moment. “There’s the party room. Come on.” Izumi carefully locked the door behind them and escorted him down the hall.
“Party room?” Alex asked.
“Yes. Our rotation doesn’t come up until two in the morning. Australia and Canada will keep things going most of the day.”
“What’s the record?”
“Nonstop holo party, thirteen months. With the feeds we’ve got right now, there’s no reason to assume that it will ever stop. We’re at eight months and cruising.”
They stopped in front of a small green door with the legend: “Environmental stress workshop. Please sign in.” Alex stifled a laugh as Izumi thumbed the door open, and they entered.
The room buzzed with activity. People laughed, drank, ate from a buffet table. A couple in the far corner were dancing a rumba. Some of the guests looked a little tired. They raised their glasses as Izumi closed the door, and a male voice said, “Tommy y’old slacker! G’day, ey? Good to see you. Who’s the straight?”
“This is Alex Griffin, Chief of Security here. Griffin, meet Robin Schultz.”
He was short and a bit pudgy, with a magnificent sandy beard. He tilted a bit as he stood up. “Welcome to the party, mate. Shake hands if I could, but you know how it is.”
Alex was overwhelmed with curiosity. “Where are you sending from?”
“University of Melbourne, old love. Plasma physics. We’ve had to shuffle the party around from one lab to the other this week. It’s been hysteric.”
“Why?”
“Rules. Officially, no one’s supposed to know. Unofficially, it’s the biggest open secret on campus, and they queue up waiting for us to drop a line.” He glanced at his watch. “Well, we only have to host for the next twelve hours. Then Canada takes over. Be glad too. Three days ago, I was the only person here for two whole hours. Lonely, of course, but hey! The party must go on!”
“Listen, Robin,” Izumi said, “I need a quiet conversation with Mr. Griffin, and this is the best place here, so we’re going to drop off line for a while.”
“All right, Tommy. Later, hey?”
The room disappeared. They were in a small studio, maybe a third the size of the ballroom, and Alex swallowed his amazement.
Dammit, he wasn’t going to get goggle-eyed again. He just wasn’t going to do it.
Izumi said, “So. What can I do for you?”
“Are you sure we’re secure here?”
“Very.”
Izumi gestured to a couch, and Alex tested it with the tip of his toe before sitting. “I want to talk to you about your brother Calvin.”
Tom Izumi stopped breathing for a moment, and his eyes closed. A network of little muscles clenched and relaxed under his eyes. When the mini-rebellion was over, he opened them again and examined Griffin.
“You were not even at Dream Park when Calvin died, Mr. Griffin. What is it that you wish?”
“I need to know more about the circumstances of his death. All of the files are sealed, or erased. The county coroner’s office had a terrible accident about eight years ago. Impounded some kind of electromagnet as evidence, and ended up erasing data files. Your brother’s included.”
“That is most unfortunate.”
They paused as someone walked down the hall outside. hum! reached over and bolted the door.
“What can you tell me about the death?”
Izumi leaned back against the wall, holding a private debate with himself. Then he began to speak. “It was in April. April of ‘48, I believe. Calvin was working on the combat rifle range we had set up for the California State Sheriffs’ Association. He took one of the rifles outside the park for additional testing up in the mountains. One of two shells had been a hangfire. While he was changing targets it detonated, and he was struck in the head. Killed instantly. A hunter found him.” He paused, and Alex saw calculations flashing behind those penetrating eyes. “That’s really all there is to say. What is it that you’re looking for?”
“The truth. I know that Calvin died here, in Dream Park. I know that there was an accident in a Game involving live ammunition. I know that it was no accident. I know about the cover-up.”
Tom Izumi was silent. Slowly he rose. “I’m afraid that I have to get back to my work. I’m sure you can understand.”
“I can understand your wish to protect Dream Park. I can appreciate your loyalty. You’re thinking this is what Calvin would have wanted. But what you have to understand is that there is a chance, just a chance that if you help me, we can nail the people involved. We can do it without airing Dream Park’s laundry in public.”
Izumi sat back down again. “I don’t understand. How?”
“Something new has been added. The Fimbulwinter Game is running again-”
“I know that.”
“The girl’s back too. She’s in the Game under a pseudonym.”
Izumi mulled it. “What of it?”
“Persons unknown got her killed out. I’ve put her back in. And that’s it, Tom, that’s all I’ve got. I don’t understand enough of what happened yet. Tell me. Help me. Somebody’s frightened. If I can get enough information, maybe I can find a pressure point.”
“And if you can’t?”
“Then we’ll be no worse off than we are now. I won’t do anything to jeopardize Dream Park, or your family. And at least we’ll know that we tried.”
Izumi seemed to weigh his words, then he shrugged. “Tried… okay. Calvin was a little heavyset, and he liked acting. They asked him to be an Eskimo in one of the Games over in Gaming A. He’d done it a couple of times, I think. Certainly no one expected any trouble. Then we got the call-there had been a terrible accident.”
“Who called you?”
“Medical staff. One of the doctors.”
“All right, go on.”
“My mother and I were working on one of the displays in a trade show set-up, and we hurried to the dispensary. It had been cleared out. Dr… Vails. No, Vail. That was his name, Vail.”
“Chief of Psychiatric Services?”
“No, not then, he was just one of the psychs. And Harmony was there, and two others. A half-dozen security people knew the truth, and three medical personnel. They were all sworn to secrecy. When they showed us the body, we had to make our own choice.”
“Just like that?”
“No, it wasn’t just like that. Mother fell apart. We had to sedate her. But when she was calm, we realized that justice could not be served. If we tried to find the murderer publicly, the whole thing would come out, and the killers would get the disruption they were seeking. So we covered it up, and we all helped, Mr. Griffin.” He paused. “It killed her, you know. She only lasted another year.”
In some corner of his mind Alex tallied up another life, gone for nothing. “How did you manage it?”
“Calvin and I were about the same height. The head of Prosthetics joined the conspiracy. She made me up to look like Calvin. Mother started crying again when she saw how good the job was. Really unbelievable, And then I went to a couple of conferences as Calvin, let myself be seen, and then took that rifle out into the mountains.”
Alex visualized the pieces thus far presented, letting them fall into place, in proper perspective. “You said you couldn’t try to find the murderer publicly. What about privately?”
Tom Izumi smiled mirthlessly. “We went over every possibility, Mr. Griffin, and we came up with only two ways that rifle could have gotten into the Game.”
